Now, along with this stage of the dreaded tantrum, are some absolutely wonderful things.

And here are three of my absolute favorites!

1. Jack loves Vincent. No, really. He LOVES Vincent. Vincent is the first thing he asks for when he wakes up in the morning. "Sin-se! Sin-se!" he calls from his crib! Vincent trots into his room and the world is right. When he goes down for a nap, he kisses Vincent. Last night we reached a new high. He wanted Vincent in the bath tub with him. Now, Vincent is not a fan of baths, so he did not oblige, but he did hang around....which is usually just enough to make someone very happy! Unfortunately, Vincent hasn't forgotten what loving from Jack used to look like.....it involved a lot of yanking tails and facial hair. As soon as he forgets that and learns that now Jack is sweet and gentle and doesn't need a warning growl for every glance his direction, things will only improve!

2. Last summer and this past winter, Jack hated hats as much as he loves Vincent. He wouldn't wear one for anything! Now, we can't leave the house without a hat. We were walking out the door the other day and I turned the alarm on and we were walking out the door when he puts his hand on his head, felt around, and ran around the house, searching for a hat to grace his little noggin, finding one just in time to race out the door before the alarm went off! He wants others to wear hats, he wants Vincent to wear hats....hats are pretty cool right now!

3. Probably my favorite thing. We try to talk a lot about Jesus in our house. Jack and Jeff read the Big Picture Storybook Bible most mornings, we say a prayer at dinner, we sing songs about Jesus, and we say bedtime prayers. And Jack loves it. I know he doesn't get it, but he's figuring out that Jesus is pretty important around here. Now, when we sit down to dinner as a family, he holds his hands out to us, bows his head, mumbles for a minute, ending with an "Amen" and he'd ready to eat! It's so cute. And we usually have to do this multiple times before he's satisfied and we can actually eat.